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Serbia: education, the market and democracy

17/01/2013 -  Federico Sicurella Belgrado

What principles should underpin Serbia's educational system from now to 2020? The answer lies in the Strategy for the Development of Education, recently adopted by the government. The document, however, does not appeal to many intellectuals denouncing it subjects education to nationalism and the market economy

Macedonia's state of democracy

17/01/2013 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

In October 2012, the European Commission gave green light to Macedonia for the fourth time in a row to start the EU accession negotiations, still blocked by a Greek veto. But what is the real state of democracy in the country? Our correspondent takes us on a personal reflection on indicators rarely taken into account

Between Syria and Turkey: the Kurdish factor

17/01/2013 -  Alberto Tetta Ceylanpinar

In north-eastern Syria, a region with a Kurdish majority, the civil war becomes a clash between the Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish-Syrian separatists of the Democratic Union Party (PYD). A report by our correspondent from the Turkish-Syrian border

Greece: fight for the soul of the Achelous River

10/01/2013 -  Gilda Lyghounis

A huge project, madness for many: deviating the course of the Achelous River and have it flow into the Aegean instead of the Ionian Sea. Following the resistance of the Greek Council of State, the EU and the environmentalists, the project seemed to have been set aside for good. Now, aided by the crisis, it has come to be topical again

Alisa Ganieva, if the Caucasus separated from Russia

09/01/2013 -  Maria Elena Murdaca

Alisa Ganieva, a Dagestani writer, is the author of "Salam, Dalgat". Active in the Russian literary scene, Ganieva tries to overcome mutual stereotyping between Russians and people from the North Caucasus. In her new novel, she imagines what would happen if the Caucasus suddenly separated from Russia. An interview

Moldovan citizens to travel freely in the EU by 2014?

09/01/2013 -  Natalia Ghilaşcu Chişinău

In 2012, José Barroso and Angela Merkel visited Moldova. These high-level visits raised hopes that Moldovan citizens will be granted visa-free travel in the EU by 2014. Still, a Russian proposal to include Moldova in its own customs union keeps public opinion divided in the country

In Şule Gürbüz's lost time

08/01/2013 -  Fazıla Mat Istanbul

She's not a hermit, though in other times she could have been. Her job is not in keeping with the times: she repairs the clocks in the Ottoman palaces. Şule Gürbüz is the only woman in the world to be an expert in mechanical clocks and author of two collections of stories which are small jewels of contemporary Turkish literature: Zamanin Farkinda (Aware of time, 2011) and Coskuyla Olmek (Die enthusiastically, 2012)

Mustafa Akyol: the AKP is not too Islamic, but too Turkish

02/01/2013 -  Francesco Martino Sofia

After ten years in power in Turkey, Erdoğan's AKP still has a reformist potential, but is becoming increasingly intolerant and confrontational. The issue, according to political commentator Mustafa Akyol, has more to do with the political tradition of authoritarian power in Turkey, than with the party's supposed “Islamic agenda”

Yerevan World Book Capital: 8 months of infinite reading

31/12/2012 -  Nuné Melkoumian Yerevan

On April 22, Yerevan became the 12th city to be designated World Book Capital by Unesco. A look back at the most significant projects of the year

Shazalakazoo’s folk-step

28/12/2012 -  Gianluca Grossi

It is a sub-genre of the more popular turbo folk - and certainly a more elaborate one. It is called folk-step. Two of its greatest representatives are Shazalakazoo, a Belgrade-based electronic music duo

Baku, where “Internet Governance” doesn't sound good

21/12/2012 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Last month the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was held in Baku. Amidst doubts on the choice of the host country, the distribution of reports on freedom of expression at the venue was blocked and the computers of assistants to vice-president of the EU commission Neelie Kroes were hacked

The impossible dreams of Georgian foreign policy

18/12/2012 -  Tengiz Ablotia Tbilisi

"Georgian Dream", the government coalition led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, promised to continue with Euro-Atlantic integration and, at the same time, get closer to Moscow. Yet, not everything seems to go as planned

Kosovo: the return of Haradinaj and the "UCK government"

14/12/2012 -  Veton Kasapolli Pristina

With the acquittal at The Hague and Ramush Haradinaj's return on the political scene, in Kosovo there are open talks about a possible political alliance between the leader of AAK and current Prime Minister Hashim Thaci

Pančevo, dead town

13/12/2012 -  Nicole Corritore

Pančevo has for years been the most polluted town in South East Europe. The Nato bombings in 1999 made the situation even worse. Our report

Oluja crimes, a test for Croatian justice

10/12/2012 -  Drago Hedl Osijek

After the acquittal of generals Gotovina and Markač at the ICTY, the Croatian judiciary must demonstrate that they know how to judge the crimes committed by the Croatian side in the 90s, without the bias seen so far against the Serbs

Tell Europe to Europe

05/12/2012 -  Luisa Chiodi

Europe on the web, in cinemas, on the radio, in schools, universities and public events. For a whole year it is going to take the lead on Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. To respond to the crisis, with new force and ideality. An editorial

Peripheral comments on the EU audit report on Kosovo

04/12/2012 -  Andrea Lorenzo Capussela

The Eulex mission in Kosovo is failing, in spite of its clever media campaign. A comment

The 1800 inmates of Moldova's psychiatric hospitals

03/12/2012 -  Natalia Ghilaşcu

Psychiatric patients in Moldova are often forced into huge facilities, where freedom is restricted more than is necessary and the sick are vulnerable to abuses. A report by our correspondent

“Panagulis lives”, and Greece seethes

26/11/2012 -  Gilda Lyghounis

Athens adopts its 2013 Budget: new cuts to convince the “troika” UE-FMI-BCE to grant the last tranche of the loan-lifesaver. Around the country, however, there's an air of violent hostility, and to disturb the parliamentarians' sleep comes the sinister warning of Stathis Panagulis, the deputy and last scion of a dynasty of martyrs

Russia, NGOs become "foreign agents"

21/11/2012 -  Irina Gordienko* Moscow

Today, a new federal law on NGOs enters into force in Russia. All associations working on human rights will have to register as "foreign agents", and could stand accused of high treason. The Russian government, apparently frightened by the wave of protests against electoral fraud, introduced the new law to restrict the activities of organizations researching the election process, but the law will affect all NGOs, especially in the Caucasus